Canada is rough
The Liberal government's gun-control bill passed a final vote in the Senate on Thursday, clearing the way for it to become law.
Bill C-21 was introduced in May 2022, but faced legislative hurdles after a Liberal MP introduced a number of controversial amendments that gun advocacy groups and opposition parties fervently opposed and forced the government to walk back.
The legislation will cement a freeze on handgun sales, increase penalties for firearm trafficking and try to curb homemade "ghost" guns.
The bill also seeks to ban assault-style firearms that fall under a new technical definition. The government had proposed a more stringent definition, but dropped a number of amendments to the bill in February after facing backlash.
Those amendments would have banned assault style weapons under the Criminal Code, rather than through regulation, and would have included any rifle or shotgun that could accept a magazine with more than five rounds — whether it actually has such a magazine or not.
Firearms advocates said including those rules in the bill would have effectively banned a number of popular hunting rifles.
While PolySeSouvient — a gun control advocacy group which includes survivors of the 1989 mass shooting at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique — criticized the government for dropping those amendments, it welcomed the passage of Bill C-21 on Thursday.
The Liberal government's gun-control bill passed a final vote in the Senate on Thursday, clearing the way for it to become law.
Bill C-21 was introduced in May 2022, but faced legislative hurdles after a Liberal MP introduced a number of controversial amendments that gun advocacy groups and opposition parties fervently opposed and forced the government to walk back.
The legislation will cement a freeze on handgun sales, increase penalties for firearm trafficking and try to curb homemade "ghost" guns.
The bill also seeks to ban assault-style firearms that fall under a new technical definition. The government had proposed a more stringent definition, but dropped a number of amendments to the bill in February after facing backlash.
Those amendments would have banned assault style weapons under the Criminal Code, rather than through regulation, and would have included any rifle or shotgun that could accept a magazine with more than five rounds — whether it actually has such a magazine or not.
Firearms advocates said including those rules in the bill would have effectively banned a number of popular hunting rifles.
While PolySeSouvient — a gun control advocacy group which includes survivors of the 1989 mass shooting at Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique — criticized the government for dropping those amendments, it welcomed the passage of Bill C-21 on Thursday.
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